Indoor Environmental Quality
What the category covers
EQ protects occupant health and comfort. Prerequisites in v4 BD+C: Minimum Indoor Air Quality Performance (meet ASHRAE 62.1 ventilation rates and keep systems clean) and Environmental Tobacco Smoke Control. Credits cover enhanced IAQ strategies, low-emitting materials, construction IAQ management, IAQ assessment, thermal comfort, interior lighting, daylight, quality views, and acoustics.
Concepts to know
- ETS: no smoking inside the building and no smoking within 25 ft of entries, outdoor air intakes, and operable windows.
- Low-emitting materials: all listed product categories must comply - adhesives and sealants, paints and coatings, flooring, composite wood, ceilings/walls/insulation, and furniture. There is no partial credit; every category must pass.
- Construction IAQ management plan: follow SMACNA guidelines for source control, pathway interruption, housekeeping, and scheduling.
- Daylight: spatial daylight autonomy and annual sunlight exposure metrics replace the old glare-prone illuminance approach.
- Quality views: direct line of sight to perimeter glazing for a large share of regularly occupied floor area.
- Thermal comfort: design to ASHRAE 55 and provide occupant control.
Traps
- Only two EQ prerequisites - low-emitting materials and daylight are credits, not prerequisites.
- Low-emitting materials is all-or-nothing; a project missing one category scores zero.
- Daylight and views apply to regularly occupied spaces only; corridors and storage do not count.
- Minimum IAQ is about ventilation rates, not filtration levels - filtration belongs to enhanced strategies.
Rule of thumb
Count the 25 ft smoking buffer and the six low-emitting categories on your scratch sheet before answering. Most EQ misses come from category count, not concept.